Playa BlancaPopular with German families, the holiday resort of Playa Blanca has grown up around a fishing village and the white, sandy beaches of southern Lanzarote, retaining its quiet traditional charm despite the influx of tourism. Offering watersports and scenic excursions to the nearby Timanfaya National Park, a holiday in Playa Blanca ticks all the boxesmore for those looking to satisfy the “bucket-and-spade” brigade.

TOP TIPS - Eating out

La Bocaina - out of town near the petrol station. Great food. Was recommended by locals. A good sign is a busy restaurant out of town or the front because people are prepared to travel to it! That's a tip for anywhere! - Phil Morris

El Mandarin (Chinese) is amazing! - J Job

Go to La Bocaina... great food with stunning views across the whole town and the sea to Fuerteventura! - Morris Family

La Bambola is a must visit restaurant, especially if you have kids. You won't regret it. - Chris Davis

We loved a restaurant called 'Le Lambola'. The service there was exceptional. We almost forgot that our 2 year old child was sitting with us! - Yevgeni

Los Hervideros - Ronnie and Sue

Los Hervideros; Tipico Espanol: El Horno; Jasmines Chinese - Richard

TOP TIPS - Getting around

Taxis are really cheap and queue outside the aiport. Around €40 to get to Playa Blanca from the airport. - Paul Harrogate

TOP TIPS - Getting There

Getting there from France isn't easy, no direct flights. From Geneva to Madrid and Madrid to Lanzarote with Easyjet. - Premat

TOP TIPS - Miscellaneous

Don't go there, Costa Teguise is much nicer! - t thompkins

TOP TIPS - Nightlife

WAX Bar has loads of cocktails and a 100+ shooter menu. Was always busy with a good mix of locals and tourists having fun! Oh and it's one of the cheapest bars as well so worth topping up there on your nights out! Jungle Bar - downstairs from WAX, great music, go there after WAX closes and dance the night away until 4:30am! - Phil Morris

WAX bar a lot of fun in the evenings! - Morris Family

Atlantis. Definitely! It's a night club which get crowded around 23:00, but we went there about 20:30 and it was good. - Yevgeni

TOP TIPS - Shopping

Avoid the camera shops like the plague, especially Photo Satellite. Crooks, the lot of 'em! Authorities seem to be powerless to stop them too. - Vic Price

Lannis Grill; A delightful spot overlooking the Rubicon Marina; Good choicer on the menu

Perfect Playa Blanca - Mark and Amy. Date of travel: Sep 2010Loved the place, very friendly safe and clean resort,lovely walks along sea front, beaches a bit small but hey cant have everything. As we were self catering we eat out a lot and found some very good restraunts and snack bars, along main street. Also an excellent cocktail bar called Gravity where we spent most evenings trying out their excellent cocktails. Will definately be coming back next year

Playa Blanca Aug 2010 - great time had - Niamh, John, Karen, Geoff, Joey. . Date of travel: Aug 2010Just back from Playa Blanca and had a great holiday. Stayed in a Villa in Los Calameres which was great. The beaches are small and lovely, with or without water sports. The sea was calm and nice for swimming. Lots of families seemed to be visiting here and children were able to stay in the pubs until the wee hours. Nice for families, a bit of a pain for those there without kids. That said it wasn't too much of a problem as once the live music stops (usually 12.30am)most with kids went home and there is also always the option of going to one of the 'clubs'. We had a great time in Playa Blanca and the experience was made all the more better by the service and craic had in Mollies Bar. 'Mollie' and Des really made us feel welcome and the entertainment was also great, not only provided for by live musicians but also the fab couple themselves. Highly recommended, would go back to Playa Blanca again just to go to Mollies again :)

Great hotel, shame about resort...... - Robson. Date of travel: Mar 2010Stayed in the 5 star Gran Melia Volcan hotel for our wedding anniversary for 4 nights with jet 2 holidays. Fantastic hotel, near the trendy marina rubicon which was half closed due to it being out of season?
Although there were several marina restaurants open all the bars were closed.
Playa Blanca itself was a little disappointing as we were of the opinion that it was supposed to be a cosmopolitan resort say compared to the brasher Puerto del Carmen. WRONG ! It was just a smaller version with several themed "Brit bars" all exactly the same. Or Irish theme bars if you wanted a change...... Why is it that these sort of bars always slavishly copy each other and presume that all travelling English people require nothing more than endless live football, karaoke, or Elvis impersonators ? We tried the famous "wax bar" one night and were bored to tears by the silent atmosphere as there were two live footie games on at the same time just to dull the senses ! So if your looking for say stylish cocktail type bars then don't go to Playa Blanca, there was one over looking the beach called "dorada nights" which was closed at night ! ! ! Restaurants in Playa blanca that we tried were very good which made up for the "dead" nighlife.

What a beautiful place! - Yevgeni. Date of travel: Oct 2009We just want to share that if you're looking for a relaxing vacation, you have to try this one! We have 2 year old child so we searched a 4/5 stars hotel with children activities. We found a good deal in lastminutetravel.com - hotel called lanzarote princess, which was not too expensive for us. When booking try to leave a 'special request' note. Although it's not guarenteed, we got what we asked for: a room near the swimming pool. The vacation was just wonderful.

Playa Blanca - You must visit Le Lambola Restaurant - Chris Davis. Date of travel: Jul 2009Loved Playa Blanca, it's a lovely part of the world! Eight of us including two young children loved the local restaurant, Le Lambola. They were truly amazing, especially with the kids!
I've never been to a restaurant that was so welcoming and indeed would prepare anything we wanted so at times you could just forget the menu. You just don't get that sort of service here in England. If you like lasagna then you have to try the one served there its fantastic!!!
If they ever read this thread, which I doubt, I would truly like to thank them on behalf of myself and my family. If we ever go back we will definitely be visiting this restaurant on many occasions again!

Playa Blanca, a wonderful secret - Bobby Ring. Date of travel: Jul 2009Playa Blanca is a well kept secret as many people do not stay there.
It has a good beach and a lovely marina and harbour which do tourist boat rides around the area and to Fuerteventura, which I would recommend doing as there is an unbelievable beach just outside Coralejio which the boats go to. If you get a taxi there ask for the Riu beach. Playa Blanca has good entertainment at night time and during the day and lovely restaurants (would recommend Lani's Tex Mex by the marina and L'Artiste which is located just steps up from a path going past a tiny beach with many restaurants near. And if you have time, do visit the water park in Costa Teguise, and shopping centre and a lovely restaurant called La Dolce Vite in Peurto del Carmen (the Timanfaya National Park is not much to do and not that great)

Yay! Playa Blanca - Rachael. Date of travel: Jul 2009I love Playa Blanca and am planning to return later this year. I love the wee jewellery shop and find the Germans very friendly. Sunglass hut is a wee gem. No negatives.

Playa Blanca - Watts Family. Date of travel: Jun 2009Playa Blanca - What a brilliant holiday, so many good restaurants & bars. I must mention Wax Bar, which I found in the Papagayo Centre. During the day they showed all sporting events going on, and low prices. Friendly & great service from the staff, with a large shot menu to try out at the nights entertainment.

Playa Blanca, LOVELY - Rheanne. Date of travel: Feb 2009

Playa Blanca, I don't know where to begin?! The weather is so much better on this side of the island, restaurant staff are amazing, I would particularly like to recommend Varadero and Romantica. I have been here many times (around 6) and my family love it so much we are considering moving there (well not considering the house is up for sale!).

A lovely place - J Job. Date of travel: Jul 2008

Our hotel in Lanzarote was so close to the beach, only a 10 minute walk! Playa Dorada is lovely and there are many bars and restaurants on the seafront: I highly recommend the Chinese Mandarin (fairly inexpensive and the waiters are very attentive). It also take 25 minutes to get to the newly built Marina Rubicon which is well worth it: there are some lovely restaurants such as Lanis and there is an arcade, bowling, bars and shops. I would highly rate the excursions Thomas Cook offer: we went on the Catlanza Catamaran where you swim in the sea, jet-ski etc. We also went on the Southern Tour which takes you to the National Park, on camels, to caves, vineyards etc which was highly enjoyable. Overall, Playa Blanca is a lovely resort (for clubs you need to be in Puerto del Carmen).

Just returned - Stacey. Date of travel: Jul 2008I really enjoyed my holiday to Playa Blanca. I stayed in Las Casitas which is a five minute walk from the beach and all the restaurants and bars. The Irish Anvil is a bar I would highly recommend and the lunch in there is amazing. The live music is great and the lads are too. I advise you to eat in Don Camilo for dinner which is on the sea front. The service is great and so is the food.
Overall Playa Blanca is a lovely place to go on holiday.

Best Restaurant in Town - Morris Family. Date of travel: Jul 2008Just come back from a fortnight in Playa Blanca. We loved the whole time but the best thing we can talk about is La Bocaina Restaurant on the outskirts of the town near the petrol station. I can't remember the owners names but she works the front of house and has a big beaming smile so say hi if you go in from us!

I loved the resort, just the accomodation was awful... - Mr John Jeromson. Date of travel: Apr 2008Good place to eat was the steak house on the main sea front, very happy staff...
lovely food and service.

I Hated Playa Blanca - Jon and Ann Smith. Date of travel: Mar 2008I didn't like Playa Blanca at all. The taxi drivers were the worst!

Can't wait to go back! - Paul Harrogate. Date of travel: Mar 2008

Playa Blanca has beautiful beaches, excellent restaurants, not too commercialised and the weather was excellent. What more can you wish for?

Playa Blanca - Durrant. Date of travel: Oct 2007

Playa Blanca has two lovely beaches. There is plenty of little shops and a main street with shops, banks. The taxis are really cheap and you don't have to wait long for one. The main supermarkets are Netto and are dotted all over. There is loads of food places and bars, we went to a few. Jumbo the Chinese, Burger King, Pizza place above Burger King, Molly's Bars and we loved the Tex Mex pub.

We loved Playa Blanca - Premat. Date of travel: Oct 2007We liked Playa Blanca because it is a small town, just families and oaps, which is ideal when you want a quiet holiday. Some nice boutique shops, a large selection of restaurants, and all close at hand.

Horrible! - T Thompkins. Date of travel: Sep 2007We were very disappointed with Playa Blanca. It was full of tacky souvenir shops, dodgy electrical stores, Karaoke bars, English & Irish bars and Chinese restaurants. When I go on holiday I like to sample the local atmosphere and food, not much chance of that here! I can never understand why people go to English style restaurants and bars when they're in a different country, you can have a Chinese or a pint of Guiness anytime in your own country. Also this resort seems to attract the 'Brits Abroad' type of people which makes it even worse.
There were a couple of decent, traditional restaurants and tapas bars we went to, but overall Lanzarote seems more expensive than when we last stayed a couple of years ago, same prices as UK, give or take a little.
Will never return to Playa Blanca.

Love it, great fun and serious heat!! - Linda and Roger. Date of travel: Sep 2007We had a brilliant holida in Playa Blanca, you cannot go to Playa Blanca without going to the JUNGLE maddness, Mollies wasn't great, the Kings Head was good fun, we met a really nice bar man working in Paddy Mac's just off the main road. We went in end of Sept and the weather was 35degrees, 2 wks before that locals told us it was 52degrees for 3 whole days due to heat wave coming in from Sahara desert. I would suggest hire a car (blue suzuki preferably) and tour the island yourselves, we visited Timanfaya to the volcano's, the Cactus Garden, Papagayo beach (fantastic beach & scenery), Jamesos del Agua (we came upon this by fluke whilst driving...OMG it is amazing, Teguise, Tinajo (very deserted little town), La Santa where you'll see amazing waves - very popular area for surfers. The spanish people are really nice & friendly but not alot of English spoken.. and very competitive when it comes to playing pool/snooker as we experienced!! You have to go to the arcades as your walking past! and the chinese rest next to it...im telling you..you wouldn't get a chinese like that in Ireland...and don't forget your shot of 62% alcohol after!! I would go again but i feel it's a place that you'd go once and seen it all as we did with our Jimmy.. driving up into Volcano's ourselves... very eeery but good fun, submarine was good fun (subcat) as the others are quiet expensive, anywho...it's a place i'll never forget..thanks to the Jungle Maddness :)

Loved it! - Phil Morris. Date of travel: Sep 2007Well I can't believe the review below cos they obviously haven't been on holiday to Playa Blanca or they are working in Costa Teguise! The description is for Costa Teguise (which incidentely has 3 x more English tacky bars than PB ... and is an absolute dive)!!! We loved Playa Blanca ... yes it does cater for those of us that like to stay abroad with a few home comforts (like watching England in the Rugby World Cup - go to WAX Bar got EVERYTHING!) and the odd alcopop or pint of guinness ... but it is a beautiful resort laid out with a great promenade ... loads of restaurants of all different cuisines and was not busy (out of season) so was nice and relaxing wherever we stayed!
Young to Old Couples perfect and families with kids older than 10 I would say Playa Blanca is for you!

Sleepy fishing village - not any more! - Christiane Rehborn. Date of travel: Aug 2007Playa Blanca has definitely grown up in the last 5 years since I last visited! There is now a large promenade that runs from the Papagayo beaches to the lighthouse at Faro Pechigura, I reckon its about 6 miles long and is totally beautiful with such different scenery (from Marina Rubicon to rock pools and of course Fuerteventura). The Dorada Beach which is just infront of the hotel we were staying was very clean and well kept ... shallow enough for kids to play safely and a closed off section allowing the bigger kids to take out canoes, jet skis, pedalos, banana boat or even parasailing (being pulled behind a boat with a parachute strapped to your back - highly recommended!). There were so many good restaurants in Playa Blanca that it is hard to name them all, but must mention La Bocaina (run by English couple - great food unbelievable prices) and Taverna Godino (run by guy from Sevilla - great authentic Spanish tapas ... voted for by hundreds of locals every day!).
For nightlife we didn't need to go further than the centre of Playa Blanca in front of the Lanzarote Princess (Papagayo centre) which has plenty of bars and cafes including a rock bar, irish bar and late night venues, but must mention the WAX bar which not only shows every sport game going (in the day) but has a great cocktail menu and entertainment at night! Just remembered we did have one night out of the Papagayo centre when we went 10pin bowling in the shopping centre behind Marina Rubicon ... not many holiday resorts boast a brand new 10 pin bowling centre and we weren't the only family on holiday to enjoy it! So Playa Blanca (although not the biggest resort to visit) had plenty to give us a great weeks holiday and we would recommend that unless you are a group looking for parties every night that this is a modern resort in the best way possible!

Our 3rd visit............ - Claudia. Date of travel: Aug 2007Our last visit to Playa Blanca was in 2003 - things have changed since then. Playa Blanca has grown a lot however the town is still a nice place to wander and the beaches and sea still lovely - just very busy in August. Biggest disappoitment was that the restaurant quality has gone down hill. In the past I rated Playa Blanca as a top place to eat out. We did have the odd good meal - particuarly at Tipico Canario on the front towards the Playa Dorada beach end. The grill place was ok (good homemade desserts), the mexican was poor (bad chicken), one of our faves last time -Romantica served my husband a bad steak (off tasting) but my veal was lovely..
There are some great shops among the usual tat and i wish i'd saved more money!!! Some gorgous clothes especially for the young and trendy, lots of perfume shops with good deals and some lovely jewelerry albeit expensive.
Nightlife is still fairly relaxed and we love the Kings Head - good cocktails and a decent bar to sit in .
I think most people will like the resort and the island itself offers a lot to explore. If I went again I'd go to a 4/5 star hotel half board (we loved the Lanzarote Princess last time) purely because the restaurants are not so good.

Places to eat - Claire Wood. Date of travel: Aug 2007We have really enjoyed the food and service offered at La Bambola which is a restaurant that is the best kept secret of Playa Blanca. Here you will eat Italian Pizza cooked by Jesus and served by Luis and his team Benedicto and Juaquin. They have a great sense of humour and pay attention to the needs of every customer. I also witnessed the briliant way they dealt with those who needed special care or even wheel chair access, so modestly called a pizzaria! Luis you and your team are great and we will be visiting you again soon.

Playa Blanca changes - Vic Price. Date of travel: Aug 2007Just returned from yet another great 3 week break. Playa Blanca has grown, but still manages to be pleasant, especially the older part. I don't know why people never mention the Varadero Restaurant. Never had a bad meal there, and Orlando and Maria and her sisters who run the place are great folks. Other good restaurants are, as mentioned before, La Bocaina (Luis the waiter is a good friend), Typico Canario, La Cuadra, and for a cheap but good Chinese, Slowboat. Tried the Indian below Romantica this year and was pleasantly surprised. La Vaca Tijuana disappointing this time around as was Don Camillo. Good couple of bars down by the Burger King area behind Dorada Beach. Wax, Atlantis, and Jungle Bar. Shakira video in Atlantis even got me boogying this year. Down Boy!

Playa Blanca... my second home (3rd visit) - Emma. Date of travel: Aug 2007Playa Blanca is a lovely resort, it's got a great beach that me and my friend spent all the day time on recovering from the night before. This resort is great for all ages... it's got the lovely karaoke bars for the families, and a calm but good night life for 18+ even though they dont I.D. If you are new to the area then you need to know the times when what clubs get good... Theres Atlantis - this gets good about 10.30pm but any time before is empty, it is situated upstairs above the big trampolines infront of the main beach. Next if you're still up for it is the Jungle Bar back down the stairs which gets good about 2.00am just after Atlantis shuts this is open till 4.00am but is slightly more Spanish than Atlantis... finaly there is 1 last club the you can go to when Jungle shuts this is Swing. This is back up the stairs past BurgerKing on the right hand side at the very top of all the little blocks of stairs... the following is good to go to for an every night thing but if you want to make a excellent night then get a taxi to Del Carmon (€28) to a club called Ceasers. It's a proper dance/ raving club, they set the bars alight have dancers doin themed dances on diff nights and doesn't shut till 6am!! (but it starts to get good at 12am) also you could be asked for I.D. here.
Chinese - If you like them then go to the best one ever right next to the arcade on the sea front - the staff are also great here and if you get to know them they give you loads of prawn crackers!! I'm goin back next year for a whole month with loads of friends and will be my 4th time goin back... it's definitely worth it!

There are a really good variety of value for money restaurants along the seafront, few will disappoint. A special mention though for Tipicos Canarios and Roca Mar, good service and great prices.
Avoid the electronic shops, and be prepared to say no to the chinese "tat" being pushed at every restaurant guest by salespeople.

Playa Blanca - Stan and Sue. Date of travel: May 2007Playa Blanca is just delightful. This once fishing village has blossomed into the islands best tourist resort by far. It is clean and the locals are very friendly (with the exception of the supermarkets!) There are too many camera shops though, a few more canary style shops would be better. All in all this resort is a must for couples wishing to relax for a week or two.

Playa Blanca..best place on the island - Jen Ferris and family. Date of travel: Apr 2007If you are looking for something for everyone in the family then this is the place...mums and dads check out the Galleria Bar. Fantastic view out to Feuraventure across the bay. TVs in the bar but only ever on during the football. Otherwise good music turned down so you can actually hold a conversation. If it's loud you want, and are into rock music like my two sons then check out the Powerhouserock Bar. It is the centre with Burger King at the front. The advert says it rocks and it really does. Saw two fantastic live bands and it is 100% loud rock.(anthems and songs you love to let yourself go to). Good value too.

Marina Rubicon is great - Philip Mylrea. Date of travel: Mar 2007The Marina Rubicon is a fantastic upmarket marina with shops, restaurants and bars and getting better all the time. If you love activies on the sea you should try the excellent Scuba School. The Marina has been designed to look like a Lanzarotian village and designed by a top architect.
If you visit Playa Blanca you need to visit the Marina Rubicon and you will not be disappointed.